Weeding for supper

Jun. 29, 2012

Jeff Pedersen of Burlington (left) and Nick Goulet of Concord, Mass., pick weeds June 15 at Arethusa Farm at the Intervale. In exchange for their work, the men received farm produce. 'We're green,' Pedersen said. 'We believe in the power and love of community.' / SALLY POLLAK, Free Press/SALLY POLLAK / FREE PRESS

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If you go

Arethusa Farm is an organic vegetable farm at the foot of Intervale Road, on the right as you head down hill. (Follow signs to Adam’s Berry Farm; Arethusa is across the way.) The farm welcomes volunteer weeders from 8 a.m. to noon Fridays. In exchange for weeding, workers get a share of farm food. Arethusa owner Thomas Case prefers people who can work the full four-hour shift, but it’s OK to come for a portion of that time. Show up and find the crew.

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An interesting brand of agri-tourism happens at the Intervale on Friday mornings. It’s unlikely it brings in top dollars for the tourism industry, but it’s attracting a bright young crowd to the Burlington dirt.

At Arethusa Farm, you can weed vegetables from 8 a.m. to noon Fridays for a share of food. Last week, a couple of the pickers were visitors from out of town.

She was crouched in the sun over rows of young lettuce plants, pulling weeds from the soil.

Wonderland was Burlington, not necessarily the weeding gig. But Benner was enjoying that, too.

“We just came for the experience and the people and the food,” Benner said. “I’m very interested in organic farming. For the future, and the future of humanity.”

The future of humanity is in good hands, or at least industrious ones, if the Arethusa crowd is any indication. Maybe more important, the future of humanity has a few a good jokers.

“They told us we were going to get our fair share,” joked Nick Goulet, 22, of Concord, Mass. “We’ve been out here for weeks. They make us live in the woods with no mosquito nets.”

Goulet was in Burlington visiting his friend, Jeff Pedersen, 22, a student at Champlain College who works at Outdoor Gear Exchange. The morning after Goulet arrived in town he was kneeling in dirt, pulling weeds.

“I did some farming back home,” Goulet said, talking on the up-and-up. “This is right up my alley.”

The dirt alley sprouting young greens is heavey on weeds this season, said Thomas Case, owner of Arethusa. He attributes this to several factors, all related to last August’s flood at the Intervale.

The flood waters carried weed seeds, Case said. In addition, the farmers were occupied with administrative work related to flood damage. There was less time for and focus on season-ending agricultural practices such as cover crops, he said.

Weeding for food is a hold-over from the early years of Arethusa, when the farm operated a CSA. Members had a “work-share” option, in which they could help with farm labor in exchange from farm yield.

Arethusa Farm operates a wholesale business (and a stand at the Burlington Farmers Market); the Friday morning event is a way to connect with the community, Case said.

“It builds community, it builds loyalty,” Case said. “It gets us help. We get to make new friends.”

The new friends include Pedersen and Goulet. “I’m doing it for the vegetables,” Pedersen said. “And it’s kind of nice to come out for four hours, hang out with good people, pick weeds. There are lot of weeds but you kind of keep chugging along - like a train. ... We’re green. We believe in the power of love and community.”

At the end of their shift, Pedersen, Goulet and the others are not sent to the woods without food or mosquito netting.

It sounds like they get a pretty fair share: Case invites Arethusa weeders to help themselves to food. He asks that they take what they think they’ll eat that week.